Seal Beach resident Jennifer Chow lost her battle with leukemia earlier this month, and now her husband, Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Blake Chow, wants to honor her memory by taking action to help others.
Jennifer Chow, who had previously survived breast cancer, was diagnosed with leukemia earlier this year.
“The only chances of any cure is that she needed a stem cell transplant,” Blake Chow said.
Chow’s transplant was scheduled for this month, but the chemotherapy weakened her immune system too much, and she died at the age of 44.
“She was a fighter and one of the bravest, the bravest person I’ve ever met … She never gave up hope, even with breast cancer, she always had this attitude like, ‘I got this,'” Blake Chow said.
Blake Chow said the family was fortunate to even have a chance to go through with a transplant, as Jennifer was lucky enough to find a donor match.
“The chances if you’re either Hispanic, African-American or Asian of finding a donor is very, very small. So you can imagine what families go through with their loved one if they contract a disease like this and the doctors are telling you, ‘No, we can’t find any matches,'” Blake Chow said.
Now, Blake Chow is partnering with the LAPD, where he’s worked for 30 years, to raise awareness of the importance of stem cell donors.
The department is working on a drive-thru stem cell testing site to create a database of potential donors. That site is expected to open in December.
“That’s what she would want, and her death would not be in vain,” Blake Chow said.
A GoFundMe has been created to raise money for her children’s college tuition.